Dear Reader,

Your Health Professions Network (HPN) leadership has been hard at work developing the agenda for our upcoming spring meeting in Baltimore, April 2-5. (FYI: The fall meeting is scheduled for St. Louis on Wednesday-Saturday, October 8-11.) Watch your mailbox for the Baltimore meeting registration form, which should be arriving soon.

In addition, thanks to the generous contributions of a wide range of HPN member organizations, our national campaign for to increase awareness of allied health professions is moving forward.

Best regards,
HPN Board of Directors

PS If your organization is not yet one of the 59 members of HPN, please check our Web site for how to join free of charge!

Contents

1. Save the date: HPN meeting set for April 2-5 in Baltimore
2. Thanks to contributors to national campaign for allied health awareness
3. Workforce project looks at medical assistant training challenges, opportunities

1. Save the date: HPN meeting set for April 2-5 in Baltimore

The 2008 spring conference of the Health Professions Network (HPN) is scheduled for April 2–5 in Baltimore, MD.

The conference, with the theme "The Changing Face of Healthcare," is sponsored by the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association and will take place at the Marriott Waterfront, Marriott Inner Harbor, and Sheraton Inner Harbor hotels.

Confirmed speakers/topics include:

• Donna Skuzak of the Cleveland Clinic: "Cultural Competency"
• Cecilia DeLoach of Health Care Without Harm: "Improving the Health Care Environment"
• Jim Koeninger of Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA): "Update on HOSA Activities"

For more information, e-mail information@healthpronet.org.

PS Remember, the HPN fall meeting is scheduled for St. Louis on Wednesday-Saturday, October 8-11.

2. Thanks to contributors to national campaign for allied health awareness

HPN is currently working with the Bernard J. Hodes Group, an award-winning recruitment, advertising, and consulting company in the health care industry, to develop a comprehensive proposal for a major media campaign to bring the issue of allied health professions shortages to the forefront of the public agenda.

After the HPN sent a letter in mid-2007 requesting initial "seed-money" support, a wide range of HPN member organizations stepped up to make generous contributions and help the project get started:

• American Academy of Anesthesiologist Assistants
• American Association for Respiratory Care
• American Association of Medical Assistants
• American Association of Medical Dosimetrists
• American Association of Sleep Technologists
• American Hospital Association
• American Medical Association
• American Medical Technologists
• American Music Therapy Association
• American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography
• American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science
• American Society of Radiologic Technologists
• Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs
• Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools International
• Health Occupations Students of America
• Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology
• Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology
• Michigan Health Council
• National Athletic Trainers' Association
• National Network of Health Career Programs in Two-Year Colleges (NN2)
• National Society for Histotechnology
• Section for Magnetic Resonance Technologists
• Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography
• Society of Nuclear Medicine, Technologist Section
• Society for Vascular Ultrasound

The project is now moving into a second phase, with scheduled meetings of HPN representatives and Hodes Group staff to work out the marketing/promotional/advertising plan and overall message. The continued involvement and support of HPN member organizations will be our driving force towards our goal of growing the allied health professions.

If you have any questions on this project, please do not hesitate to contact the HPN through Virginia Pappas at vpappas@snm.org or by phone at 703 708-9000.

3. Workforce project looks at medical assistant training challenges, opportunities

Medical assistants make up the bulk of the nonphysician workforce in medical office practices. Their training can range from on-the-job training to a two-year associate degree.

A new project of the Center for the Health Professions in San Francisco, Training Medical Assistants in Small Physician Practices, aims to highlight the key workforce issues and training challenges and opportunities in solo and small group practices of primary care practitioners in California.

The project will develop and test educational interventions to add to or enhance identified skills and competencies, address job and career opportunities, and assess, where possible, the outcome of training on quality of care delivered. In addition, legislative and other policy options that may enhance the supply of qualified medical office assistants will be explored.

For more information about this project, click the above link or contact Angela Marks.